Your own website as the only reference
Spherix relied on participating in web design competitions to promote itself
Spherix relied on participation in web design competitions for their publicityPR or word-of-mouth is cheaper and more useful than classic advertising." - This is the motto of many young Internet and software companies. They usually use self-developed software or a customer project from which it originated as a drawing card for their publicity. The start-up company Spherix, which specializes in Flash, from
St. Gallen, founded last November by Paquale De Sapio, could not rely on this strategy for its PR campaign. The web design agency did not yet have any customer projects to show, because the founding team had previously worked full-time in other fields. The team, which had been working with Flash for about two years, designed an elaborate website and entered it in five prestigious design competitions.
Any awards should help to make the young company known and attract customers. As an accompanying measure, the founders entered the URL of their website in several relevant Flash forums and communities. After all, even the best awards are of no use if there is no networking in the industry.
De Sapio was well aware that, in the worst case, the award hunt would only plunder the company's coffers without bringing in an award for the trophy case and the future PR campaign. But the plan worked: Just a few weeks after its official launch in November 2000, spherix.ch won awards at two international design competitions and hung the awards on the big PR bell. De Sapio is particularly proud of the Silver Spheres Gold Award (www.sil verspheres.com), which has only been awarded to 30 projects out of a total of 969 submitted since its launch.
What value such a design award and a pretty website have when it comes to executing a concrete customer order is another question, however. De Sapio does not want to overvalue the two awards. It is much more important to establish references as quickly as possible through customer projects. Spherix will soon have the opportunity to do so, as the first customers have already been acquired: Atraxis and the KS Group St. Gallen, Zurich, Basel. Clemens Hörler
St. Gallen, founded last November by Paquale De Sapio, could not rely on this strategy for its PR campaign. The web design agency did not yet have any customer projects to show, because the founding team had previously worked full-time in other fields. The team, which had been working with Flash for about two years, designed an elaborate website and entered it in five prestigious design competitions.
Any awards should help to make the young company known and attract customers. As an accompanying measure, the founders entered the URL of their website in several relevant Flash forums and communities. After all, even the best awards are of no use if there is no networking in the industry.
De Sapio was well aware that, in the worst case, the award hunt would only plunder the company's coffers without bringing in an award for the trophy case and the future PR campaign. But the plan worked: Just a few weeks after its official launch in November 2000, spherix.ch won awards at two international design competitions and hung the awards on the big PR bell. De Sapio is particularly proud of the Silver Spheres Gold Award (www.sil verspheres.com), which has only been awarded to 30 projects out of a total of 969 submitted since its launch.
What value such a design award and a pretty website have when it comes to executing a concrete customer order is another question, however. De Sapio does not want to overvalue the two awards. It is much more important to establish references as quickly as possible through customer projects. Spherix will soon have the opportunity to do so, as the first customers have already been acquired: Atraxis and the KS Group St. Gallen, Zurich, Basel. Clemens Hörler
